Week 30 - завтрак - Russia

SYRNIKI, OLADI, and BLINI

We are fast approaching Easter and here I am with a blog entry from way back on Pancake Tuesday.  Too much breakfast, so little bloggin time....

For those uninitiated to the tradition, Pancake Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras is the hurrah before the season of lent.  Christians all over the world get ready for this austere season of reflection and fasting by doing what else...partying and eating pancakes!  

This year Jon and I went all out and tried not just one new traditional pancake but three.  As it turns out Russia, and much of Eastern Europe in general, is crazy about pancakes.  Some statistics even state that Russia has over 70 different varieties.  That's a lot of pancakes but for our purposes we narrowed it down to the three most popular:  Syrniki, Oladi and Blini.

Syrniki:

Syrniki are primarily made from Tvorog, a soft white cheese (similar to ricotta or cottage cheese) that is very common in Russian cuisine.  Mixed together with just a little flour, sugar, and egg, Syrniki were very simple to cook.

They were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with a very distinct, rich flavour.  They are commonly served with some sort of jam, icing sugar and sour cream.  Sour cream with sweet was a new concept for me, but it really worked to balance the cloying cheesiness of the Syrniki.

Oladi:

Oladi fall closest to the North American concept of a pancake.  In fact, the recipe is almost the same as buttermilk pancakes, except Kefir is substituted for buttermilk.  Kefir is a milk beverage that is very popular across Northern and Eastern Europe.  It's made by introducing Kefir grain to milk and fermenting it.  Half way between yogurt and milk, I'm not sure I would drink it straight but it made delicious pancakes.

Oladi are small and quite puffy on the pancake scale.  They have a tender crumb (probably as a result of the hard working bacteria in the Kefir) and a delicious crispy outside.  Like Syrniki they are enjoyed with jam and sour cream.

Blini:

Blini are the classic Russian pancake, and the one you've probably heard the most about.  In Russia there are whole cafes devoted to the blini and it's many, many variations.  They can be served as a savoury snack (with caviar, smoked salmon and cream cheese) or as a sweet (apples, strawberries, sweetened sour cream, syrup, etc.).  We were fresh out of caviar so we enjoyed them sweet with some Canadian maple syrup.

As this was the third pancake, I kept it simple and used a box mix I picked up at a local Russian Supermarket to make the Blini.

The inner food snob in me was prepared to turn up my nose but they cooked up beautiful.  Just check out their delicate lace-like tops.

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:

For Degree of Separation:

They are pancakes after all.


For Guestability:

These would be great for guests.  They smell amazing cooking, make a great presentation and of course, taste great.


For Sustainability:

Those Syrniki kept me going well until lunch.  In fact, they were hearty enough that we enjoyed the leftovers as a filling supper the next day!


For Costability:

With the exception of the Kefir and Tvorog, no extravagant ingredients were needed.  And if you were normal and making just one recipe, it would be very budget friendly.


For Overall Appeal:

Who doesn't love pancakes?  Syrniki, Oladi and Blini all have tremendous appeal. In fact, I've been saving this breakfast for months until Pancake Tuesday gave me the excuse I needed to eat three different kinds of pancakes in one go.  Try one, you won't be disappointed!

I've been searching for a special Easter breakfast to feature next week but have come up empty-handed.  Instead I've decided to honour the new Pope and see how Argentineans break the fast....